France's Orange closing in on sale of Dominican unit

French telecommunications company Orange is putting the finishing touches on a deal to sell its subsidiary in the Dominican Republic, a transaction that could be worth more than 1 billion euros ($1.35 billion), CEO Stephane Richard said here Friday at an investor conference.

The former monopoly is looking to raise cash ahead of an expected wave of consolidation in Europe's telecommunications sector, Dow Jones told Efe.

The French group put its Dominican unit up for sale this summer and the deadline for bids expired in mid-November.

The groups that have expressed interest include Britain's Cable & Wireless Communications, Jamaica's Digicel, and Dominican conglomerate Grupo Leon Jimenes, according to sources familiar with the process.

Richard declined to comment on a possible buyer or how the deal was being structured.

Orange's Dominican unit, which had 3.3 million wireless subscribers in the third quarter, according to the parent company's figures, is the French group's only major asset in Latin America.

The subsidiary earned 451 million euros in revenue in 2012, equivalent to 1 percent of Orange's total sales, according to the company's annual report. EFE